Here we discuss sex and politics, loudly, no apologies hence "screeds" and "attitude."

8/14/2014

steve grand's classic

Ripped jeans, tight shirthe lights a cigarette you know I'm glad that she can't stand it, ohhI drink the moonlight from his eyes

Now hold there, just a momentI want to take this in now we don't need no photo of it, nowe should go this road tonight

PRECHURS 2now I know that that's your girl, and I don't give a damnshe's been cusin and cryin, she don't know what she hasso I'll be, sittin here, tryin hold down my whiskey,you tell your girl good night cause somebody'd like to kiss me, ohh

CHORUSBe my All-American boy tonightwhere everyday's the 4th of Julyand its alright, alrightAnd we can keep this up till the morning lightand you can hold me deep in your eyesand its alright, alrightbe my, be mymy All-American boy

i heard that song tuesday while shopping (clothes for my daughter) and it brought back 2013. to me that is still an amazing song.

The U.S. corporate media were more interested in the rest of
al-Baghdadi’s message, in which he warned Washington that “soon enough,
you will be in direct confrontation – forced to do so, God willing. And
the sons of Islam have prepared themselves for this day. So wait, and we
will be waiting, too.” For most self-obsessed Americans, this was
received as a threat to attack “the Homeland.” However, downtown
Manhattan is not on the Caliphate leader’s map. Al-Baghdadi meant that
the American strategy of financing Muslim muppets to fight imperialism’s
wars is kaput, and that the Pentagon will soon have to do its own dirty
work, dressed in “Crusader” uniform.
Accordingly, the U.S. is sending additional hundreds of “non-combat”
troops to northern Iraq – as if Marines and Special Forces are anything
but combat soldiers – to join the 1,000 or so American military and
“security” personnel already there, by official count. Contrary to what
many Americans on the Left believe, U.S. planners are not itching to
send large American units to Arab lands (the Kurds are not Arabs), since
their presence is counter-productive in the extreme. The problem is,
the Pentagon’s proxies are evaporating, in flight, or – in the case of
Arab Iraq – growing even more dependent on Iran and (who would have
predicted it?) Russia, which is assisting in reconstituting the Iraqi
air force.Some leftists in the U.S. even imagine that Washington has achieved some
kind of victory with the imminent departure of Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki, the veteran American stooge. But, Maliki’s ouster was also
backed by Iran, Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani (who
mobilized millions demanding an end to the U.S. occupation), Muqtada
al-Sadr (whose militia fought two wars against the occupation), and even
much of Maliki’s own Dawa Party. Only the Kurds remain in Washington’s
(and Israel’s) pocket – and this matter of convenience, too, may pass as
the neighborhood changes all around Kurdistan.

There's more to the piece than just that.

But on that?

Sorry, Glen, if Barack hadn't pulled US support, the world would not be attempting to rush Nouri off the stage.

That is the power of the United States -- it's frequently misused by presidents, but it can also accomplish good.

And Nouri going is good.

Is Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani responsible? Absolutely. As is
Moqtada and many leaders and officials not mentioned -- a list which
would include KRG President Massoud Barzani, ISCI leader Ammar al-Hakim
(who surprised many US participants by not attempting to seek the post
himself despite working very hard to ease Nouri out), and Ayad Allawi
among others.

But most of all this came about because of the Iraqi people -- Sunni, Shia, Kurd and other.

In the midst of the Arab Spring or 'Arab Spring,' Iraqis took to the
streets and protested in large numbers. They were largely ignored by
the world. The same was true from December 2012 through January of
2013. That time, they protested non-stop and turned out every week.

They showed up to protest despite threats, despite torture --

In fact, let's stop there.

You didn't have to peacefully participated in protesting for Nouri to
sick his goons on you. Hadi al-Mahdi was rounded up for reporting on
the protests. Falling back to the September 8, 2011 snapshot:

In Iraq, a journalist has been murdered. In addition
to being a journalist, he was also a leader of change and part of the
movement to create an Iraq that was responsive to Iraqis.

Al Mada reports
Iraqi journalist Hadi al-Mahdi is dead according to an Interior
Ministry source who says police discovered him murdered in his Baghdad
home. Along with being a journalist, Al Mada notes he was one of the
chief organizers of the demonstrations demanding change and service
reform that began on February 25th -- the day he was arrested by Iraqi
security forces and beaten in broad daylight as he and others, after the
February 25th protest, were eating in a restaurant. The New York Times didn't want to tell you about, the Washington Post
did. And now the man is dead. Gee, which paper has the archives that
matter to any real degree. Maybe it's time to act like a newspaper and
not a "news magazine" with pithy little human interest stories? (That
is not a dig at Tim Arango but at the paper's diva male 'reporter' who
went on NPR to talk of an Iraqi collegue this week.) So while the Times
missed the story (actaully, they misled on the story -- cowtowing to
Nouri as usual), Stephanie McCrummen (Washington Post) reported:

Four
journalists who had been released described being rounded up well after
they had left a protest at Baghdad's Tahrir Square. They said they were
handcuffed, blindfolded, beaten and threatened with execution by
soldiers from an army intelligence unit. "It
was like they were dealing with a bunch of al-Qaeda operatives, not a
group of journalists," said Hussam al-Ssairi, a journalist and poet, who
was among a group and described seeing hundreds of protesters in black
hoods at the detention facility. "Yesterday was like a test, like a
picture of the new democracy in Iraq."

That day's snapshot? That's the day Haidi was murdered. Like so many
other journalists killed in Nouri's Iraq, the killer was never found --
mainly because no one ever made a point to look for a killer to begin
with.

Did Black Agenda Report cover his murder?

No.

No, they did not.

They didn't cover the hunting of Iraq's LGBTQ community. Nouri's
'acting' Minister of the Interior helped with that on Nouri's orders.
Young men and boys who were gay or wrongly thought to be gay were
targeted. Death didn't come easy to those killed. To cite two popular
examples for ways to murder, some were beaten to pulp with bricks, some
had their anuses super glued. This was barbaric not just in that
innocents were being killed -- being gay is as normal as being straight
-- but in the way they were being killed -- slowly and painfully in an
effort to inflict the most pain possible.

Does Glen want to explain why that was?

Better yet, can he?

Nouri's flunkies went into high schools and middle schools handing out
pamphlets about how awful these people were -- they had same-sex sex,
they were vampires, they were this, they were that. (Of course Nouri
and his flunkies denied it -- but both Al Mada and Alsumaria got ahold
of the handouts the Ministry of Interior was distributing to children.)

What Nouri's gotten away with? War Crimes.

Has Black Agenda Report objected even once to the bombing of
Falluja's residential neighborhoods? We all know that collective
punishment is a legally defined War Crime. But since the start of this
year, Nouri has daily attacked and left wounded and dead numerous
civilians whose only 'crime' was to live in Falluja.

I like Glen and think he's an important voice.

I also he's a very sad person if he can't, for even one moment, think of the Iraqi people.

Reuters notes
Pope Francis wrote a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon today which stated, among other things, "I write to you, Mr.
Secretary General, and place before you the
tears, the suffering and the heartfelt cries of despair of Christians
and other religious minorities of the beloved land of Iraq."

Nouri is a thug and they had to endure 8 years of him.

US President Barack Obama pulled the US government's support.

I wish Barack had done that in 2010 -- when Nouri lost the election --
but I don't for one moment think doing it now didn't make a difference.

I also have no problem praising Barack for taking that step.

If he used the rest of his final term to do similar things, I'd praise him for that as well.

Will he?

I wouldn't bet on it.

I support the air drops of food, water, etc for the Yazidis trapped on
Mount Sinjar. They are victims and relief missions are something every
nation could do and take part in.

Barack's taken that beyond air drops. And today the Defense Dept issued the following:

Release No: NR-427-14August 13, 2014

Statement by Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby

As part of the ongoing humanitarian efforts ordered by President Obama,
today a team of U.S. military personnel, accompanied by USAID,
conductedan assessment of the situation on Mt. Sinjar and the impact of
U.S. military actions to date. The team, which consisted of less than
twenty personnel, did not engage in combat operations and all personnel
have returned safely to Irbil by military air. The team has assessed
that there are far fewer Yazidis on Mt. Sinjar than previously feared,
in part because of the success of humanitarian air drops, air strikes on
ISIL targets, the efforts of the Peshmerga and the ability of thousands
of Yazidis to evacuate from the mountain each night over the last
several days. The Yazidis who remain are in better condition than
previously believed and continue to have access to the food and water
that we have dropped. Based on this assessment the interagency has
determined that an evacuation mission is far less likely. Additionally,
we will continue to provide humanitarian assistance as needed and will
protect U.S. personnel and facilities.

Rubin walked away with painful injuries (broken wrists are painful),
Yazidi MP Vian Dakhil was injured, the pilot died and a few more
passengers who haven't been named yet were left injured. The pilot
hasn't been named either.

We noted this Tweet last week from the Financial Times' Borzou Daragahi:

I don't support fly over bombings -- nor do I believe for one minute
that the bombs being dropped from the air means the US is not in
'combat' in Iraq.

I do not support more US troops going into Iraq (or any being there
other than to guard US embassy staff -- which Marines do around the
world). All Iraq News notes, "About 130 American military advisers have arrived in Iraq
to help with its humanitarian aid in north area of the country, U.S.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a press statement." The number of
US troops in Iraq keeps increasing. That's not a good thing to those
of us opposed to war.

QUESTION: Okay. And conversely, you deployed – or the United States deployed some 130 --MS. HARF: Uh-huh.QUESTION: -- advisors and so on to Erbil. Does that mean that
the situation in Baghdad or around Baghdad is quiet enough where you
don’t need this kind of advisory effort?MS. HARF: Well, let’s be clear about what these 130 advisors
will and will not be doing. They are focused squarely on looking at the
humanitarian situation on Mount Sinjar and developing options to
potentially move people and relocate people safely from the mountain. As
we know, dropping food and water is not a long-term solution for the
tens of thousands of people on that mountain. So these U.S. military
personnel that have just gone in are assessing the best way to bring
these people to safety, whether that’s some sort of airlift, whether
that’s a humanitarian corridor. They’re looking at the options, they’ll
present them to the President, and then he’ll make decisions about how –
the best way that we can help do that will be.QUESTION: And I know yesterday that you denied that there was
any kind of pressure on Maliki to leave August from early June or
mid-June right after the fall of Mosul. So no one has talked to him at
that time, “It’s time for you to leave?”MS. HARF: What we’ve always said, Said, is that there is a
constitutional process and that process needs to move forward. There are
very clear rules under that process for how a new prime minister for a
new government is designated. We have encouraged everyone to play by
those rules, period. And that’s the message that we’ve been sending for a
very long time.

Former Governor of New Mexico and 2012 Libertarian Party Presidential nominee Gary Johnson Tweeted the following today:

QUESTION: In Iraq, please. Today Prime Minister al-Maliki said
he would not step down from his post until the Iraqi judiciary rules on
whether or not his constitutional challenge to the process should go
forward or not. I’m wondering if you all have any idea of how long this
process might take as it speaks to some concerns people have raised
about whether he will try to run out the clock on the 30 days he now –
that designate al-Abadi has.Also I’m wondering if you were able to get an answer to my question
yesterday as to what level of confidence does the U.S. have in the Iraqi
judiciary system.MS. HARF: A couple issues, and then we’ll – I’m sure you’ll
have follow-ups. The comments made by the prime minister today were
similar to ones he’s made in recent days, quite frankly. And as I said
yesterday, with all political systems there will be differences with how
certain processes unfold. We never expected this to be completely
seamless, but the United States firmly rejects any effort to achieve
outcomes through coercion or manipulation of the constitutional or
judicial processes.And then look, I don’t want to get ahead of the constitutional
process that’s underway. We just began the 30-day time clock for the
Prime Minister-designate al-Abadi to form a new government. They are
moving along with that process. So we will watch day by day as that
plays out, but Prime Minister-designate al-Abadi is moving forward as
part of this process, and that’s what we’ll be focused on in the coming
days.QUESTION: So you don’t believe this court challenge that Maliki is posing is going to be slowing that 30-day clock in any way?MS. HARF: Well, look, the prime minister-designate is the one
who is in charge of what happens during the 30-day clock, and he’s
working actively towards that. And again, we would reject any efforts by
anyone to use the judicial processes to manipulate or coerce the
outcomes here. But there is a separate process and it’s the
constitutional one, and that’s moving forward.QUESTION: How is it that the designate has control of the clock when Maliki is still the prime minister?MS. HARF: Well, he has control of the clock. What I meant was
the progress that can be made in the 30 days to form a new government is
in the hands of the prime minister-designate, who has the support, as I
said over the last few days. He was nominated by the Shiite bloc,
including many members of Prime Minister Maliki’s own party.So we’ve seen these kind of comments from the current prime minister
before, but separate from those comments there is a process under the
constitution that is moving forward. And we expect that to move forward
and we will continue watching what happens in the coming days.QUESTION: Do you have any expectations of how long this court appeal will last?MS. HARF: I don’t have any guess on that.QUESTION: May I just follow up on that? I mean, his words were
very critical of the United States, today – Maliki’s speech. He
basically said that you espouse democratic values but you go ahead and
sabotage the democratic process. What do you have to say to that?MS. HARF: Well, the Iraqis have their democratic process
that’s underway right now, and that process has led to a new prime
minister-designate being named by the current prime minister’s own bloc.
So the process is playing out how it should. Again, we knew this would
not be without complication. Nothing ever is – certainly not here in
Iraqi politics. But their own democratically, constitutionally outlined
process has been ongoing and that’s what’s happening right now.QUESTION: I know that you warned against manipulating whatever
legal process in the courts or whatever to sow divisions and so on in
Iraq. Has anyone talked to the prime minister personally to say refrain
from doing that because you’re driving the country further into the
abyss?MS. HARF: We’ve certainly had conversations with a range of
leaders, including Prime Minister Maliki, emphasizing, Said, that this
is a key, critical time in Iraq on the security front, on the political
front – they are very closely intertwined – and that nobody should do
anything to prevent the progress that’s laid out under the constitution
from taking place and from moving forward. Nobody should.QUESTION: Mm-hmm.MS. HARF: We’ve certainly had those conversations.QUESTION: Okay. Now, as we – Iran, Saudi
Arabia, Turkey, they all welcome the prime minister-designate Haider
Al-Abadi, but Maliki still has some support within the Shiites. He has
some support within some, like, militant type of militias and so on. Are
you concerned that he actually might resort to violence?MS. HARF: I don’t want to venture to guess on that
hypothetical, Said. There’s a process in place and that process is
moving forward. What’s key here is that the President asked the prime
minister-designate to name a government. This was the designate that his
own bloc, Prime Minister Maliki’s own bloc selected. So I think that
should speak very clearly about the support that Prime
Minister-designate al-Abadi has. And, again, the process is moving
forward.

It would be something wonderful if we could see people rejecting an urge
to insult the dead. (I am not attacking women who engage in sex work.
I am noting that prostitute is a huge pejorative in Iraq and dead women
who can't defend themselves shouldn't have prostitute tied around their
dead necks solely because a group of men -- who killed them -- have
labeled them whores.)

I'm not interested in running down violence. Monday night, I noted a
death and offered Tuesday might be the last snapshot. The friend I
dictated it too wisely pulled that. But a friend died this week and it
really makes me question the point of online life.

Statement by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on the Passing of Robin Williams

The entire Department of Defense community mourns the loss of Robin
Williams. Robin was a gifted actor and comedian, but he was also a true
friend and supporter of our troops. From entertaining thousands of
service men and women in war zones, to his philanthropy that helped
veterans struggling with hidden wounds of war, he was a loyal and
compassionate advocate for all who serve this nation in uniform. He will
be dearly missed by the men and women of DoD - so many of whom were
personally touched by his humor and generosity.